Digital workplaces create more productive employees with higher job satisfaction and better motivation, according to a new survey by Aruba.

The study found that employees who work in digital workplaces are not only more productive but also more motivated, have higher job satisfaction, and report an overall better sense of well-being.

The global study of 7,000 employees found that employees who believe they work in fully digitally-enabled workplaces ‘digital revolutionaries', report more positively than those who work in less advanced workplaces, the ‘digital laggards'.

Digital revolutionaries were 51% more likely to have strong job satisfaction, and 43% more likely to be positive about their work-life balance than digital laggards. Revolutionary employees were also 60% more likely to say they are motivated at work, and 91% more likely to praise their company's vision.

Sixty-five percent of Revolutionaries reported they had seen professional development and growth through the use of digital technology, compared to just 31% of Laggards. With a digital workplace, 72% of Revolutionaries reported a higher ability to adopt new work skills as compared to 58% of Laggards.

Digital revolutionaries also said that their productivity benefited from digital technologies, with 73% reporting improved productivity and 70% saying they had better collaboration. Seventy-one percent of respondents said they would welcome a fully automated workplace in the future, allowing organizations to build smarter, more effective working environments.

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The survey also highlighted some risks of not developing a digital workplace, with 64% of respondents saying their company will fall behind the competition if new technology isn't implemented. The same portion (64%) believe the traditional office will become obsolete due to advances in technology. Around two-thirds of organisations (69%) have invested in digital workplace tools in the past year.

However, digital workplaces also apparently increase the risk of bad cybersecurity behaviour. Employees reported higher levels of cybersecurity awareness (52% think about security often or daily), but also admitted to taking more risks with company data and devices, with 70% admitting to risky behaviours such as sharing passwords and devices.

A quarter (25%) of employees have connected to potentially unsafe open Wi-Fi in the past twelve months, 20% said they use the same password across multiple applications and accounts, and 17% admitted to writing down passwords in order to remember them.

Aruba recommends that companies should adopt a digital workplace strategy, build collaborative digital workspaces, and incorporate security from the ground up, to tackle the potential and the risks of a digital workplace.

Gamal Emara, country manager, UAE at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company commented: "Our research shows that digital workplace trends in UAE are in line with global trends. Organizations in the country and the larger Middle East region need to understand that more digitally-driven workplaces not only foster productivity, but employee wellbeing, motivation and job satisfaction. The organizations that capitalize on implementing a digitally-enabled workplace will gain a competitive edge, by helping employees finish tasks quicker as well as making the process more collaborative and enjoyable.

"Simultaneously, companies need to be aware of the growing information security threats that are now a routine problem for increasingly connected organisations. Our findings suggest that the problem is as much about human failures as it is digital workplace design."